Dynamo to decide on San Jose game today

The Dynamo will know today whether Saturday’s home match against the San Jose Earthquakes can be played as scheduled.

The aftermath of Hurricane Ike already has caused the postponement of the team’s CONCACAF Champions League match against Luis Angel Firpo, originally scheduled to be played Wednesday at Robertson Stadium.

“We’re confident but not 100 percent certain that we will be able to play Saturday,” Dynamo chief operating officer Chris Canetti told the Houston Chronicle on Monday evening.

The Dynamo will attempt to move up kickoff to 5 p.m. from the scheduled 7:30 p.m. start if the game can be played Saturday.

But the team first has to get the thumbs up from the University of Houston, which has the final say on whether Robertson can be up and running safely come gameday,

The stadium seems to have fared the storm fairly well, Canetti said.

The field is in “perfect condition,” he added.

The same cannot be said of the team’s downtown office, which has five broken windows and extensive water damage.

“We’re trying to figure out where we will conduct business in the short term,” Canetti said.

Staff worked out of Robertson on Monday.

Meanwhile, the bulk of players returned to Houston from their weekend 1-1 tie at San Jose and are scheduled to hold practice today at UH’s Carl Lewis Complex.

• The group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League kicks off today with three matches including Group B’s Pumas-San Francisco, which the Dynamo will be sure to watch, and Group A’s D.C. United-Saprissa.

• And, of course, the real Champions League gets underway today with eight matches, including Group A’s Chelsea-Bordeaux at Stamford Bridge, a match you can watch beginning at 1:45 p.m. on ESPN2, Deportes and ESPN360.com

One Response

Looking at the crowded fixture list, I honestly don’t see where this game can fit in unless they put it after all of the other Group Stage games the week before the MLS playoffs. Hopefully, by then a knockout stage berth will be secured and the game will be a reserve-only affair. But this doesn’t seem to be a team that ever does things the easy way!